The Paranormal Database

Most Not Haunted?

Location: Ryhope (Durham) - Cherry Knowle Hospital, Laurels Block
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2008
Further Comments: Ghost hunters were said to be putting their lives at risk by breaking into this former hospital, and local newspaper Sunderland Echo named it 'the most haunted hospital in the UK'. Unfortunately, there is a distinct lack of historic ghost stories relating to the structure, and one cannot help but to think a modern myth is in the making.

Nurse in Long Skirt

Location: Scunthorpe (Lincolnshire) - Scunthorpe General Hospital
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: During the illness of a baby
Further Comments: If a baby is seriously ill on the ward, a ghostly nurse in a long skirt sometimes appears, accompanied by the smell of violets. The baby always recovers after her visit.

Sound of New Boots

Location: SE1 (Greater London) - Guy's Hospital, St Thomas Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1969?
Further Comments: A nurse dressed in late nineteenth century garb has been seen walking down the corridors of the hospital, sometimes placing her hand on patient's shoulders to reassure them. When not seen, she is heard - pacing loudly down echoing walkways.

St Thomas' Hospital, London.

Grey Nurse

Location: SE1 (Greater London) - St Thomas' Hospital
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century, prior to a death of a patient
Further Comments: St Thomas' Hospital, London. A ghostly nurse dressed in grey, reluctant to leave her job, has been mistaken for a real person - until she vanishes into thin air. Other stories say that the nurse's legs abruptly end at the knees. Although her facial details are perfect and of utmost clarity, no one has been able to place or identify her. Some tales report that patients who spot this phantom woman died soon after, a theme repeated in a few other hospitals in the UK.

Old Lady

Location: Sheffield (Yorkshire) - Middlewood Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This old lady has been seen wandering around the former Ward Eight, where she disappears when she walks through a wall. There are also stories of disembodied footsteps running on the stairs.

Matron

Location: Sheffield (Yorkshire) - Northern General Hospital, Vickers Corridor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2003 ('dream'), October 2012 Victorian man
Further Comments: At least two members of staff have reported the same 'dream' while sleeping in the staff room - they have awoken to see an angry matron-styled nurse with one hand over the witnesses' mouth and the other hand around their neck, trying to strangle them. One witness kicked and screamed before the apparition vanished in the blink of an eye. In 2012 two witnesses spotted a man in Victorian clothing drift past them while on the bell tower staircase.

German Soldier

Location: St Andrews (Guernsey) - German Military Underground Hospital and Ammunition Store
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2008 (Photograph taken)
Further Comments: Several phantoms are said to haunt this former German building, including a ghostly soldier and a lady. Disembodied voices have also been reported (and recorded). In 2008 a photograph was taken which some believe show a spirit, although it is more likely to be a result of a long exposure and camera shake.

Glowing Lady

Location: Stockport (Greater Manchester) - St Thomas's Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to a death
Further Comments: This radiant woman appears dressed as either a nurse or a nun, and always just before the death of a patient on a certain ward.

Children

Location: Stoke on Trent (Staffordshire) - City General Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: The old block containing the paediatric ward was believed to be haunted by several children. One doctor running through the block after being bleeped saw seven children playing in the area. It was not until later she realised that the ward was closed and empty.

Green Man

Location: Stotfold (Bedfordshire) - Fairfield Hospital (was The Three Counties Asylum), now private flats
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1996
Further Comments: A member of staff reported seeing a man wearing a green staff uniform walking towards the hospital who vanished without trace. Footsteps would also be heard from empty rooms, wheelchairs moved unaided, door handles turned without human hand nearby and locked windows would be found open.

Whitish Figure Running over Brambles

Location: Stowmarket (Suffolk) - Pauper's Graveyard (near Stowlodge Hospital?)
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s, and July 2018
Further Comments: The witness said this figure appeared quite normal but drew attention to itself by running a couple of inches over the foliage in this area. The witness speculated the ghost is one of the poor buried in the nearby graveyard. The entity may have been spotted again in 2018 by a woman leaving the graveyard, when a fast moving figure disappeared into brambles.

A smoky, ghostly warning.

Pungent Cigars

Location: Sunderland (Tyne and Wear) - Royal Infirmary Hospital (Ward F62, no longer standing)
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: This was a palliative care ward. A doctor who worked there would smoke very pungent cigars. After he died the smell of cigars would fill the air a few minutes before a serious medical event occurred. So many staff experienced the smoke that it became unofficial procedure to check every patient and call in resuscitation staff if anyone detected the smell.

Matron

Location: SW1 (Greater London) - Grey Coat School (Hospital)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Stories are still told today about the murdered nurse, and how her ghost walks various parts of the building, scaring the young students.

Grey Lady

Location: SW1 (Greater London) - Westminster Hospital
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: When operational, this shady entity would appear just prior to the death of a patient, normally standing over the bed of the soon to be deceased.

Olga

Location: Swansea (West Glamorgan) - Psychiatric hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Olga suffered from paranoid schizophrenia who managed to kill herself while at the hospital. She has since made several appearances; a small woman with large green eyes and long ginger hair, she often sings and interacts with witnesses, who do not realise she is a ghost until later.

Consumptive Girl

Location: Ventnor (Isle of Wight) - Botanic Gardens (former TB hospital)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Once the home of patients with TB, several of these unfortunates are said to remain, including a little girl and an older man who once engaged a worker on site in conversation.

Grey Lady

Location: W1 (Greater London) - St George's Hospital, Hyde Park Corner
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid to late 1960s
Further Comments: This phantom grey lady was thought to be a former nurse. While anyone could hear her footsteps echoing down corridors, she was said to only appear to the very ill, some of whom claimed to have spoken to her.

Victorian Nurse

Location: W2 (Greater London) - St Mary's Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Victorian nurse unknown, Sister Thistlewaite 1970s
Further Comments: A Victorian nurse is said to occasionally appear and reassure patients that an experienced nurse will tend to them soon. A different tale from the 1970s states that a phantom known as Sister Thistlewaite would helpfully move bedpans and drop empty IV bags.

Rebecca

Location: W5 (Greater London) - Maudsley Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When the Hospital of the Star of Bethlehem moved and merged with Maudsley hospital in the 1920s, the ghost of Rebecca is said to have come along as well, still looking for her missing coin. A witness reported seeing a man in a brown coat vanish along a corridor where there was no possible exists.

Grey Lady

Location: Warrington (Cheshire) - Hollins Park House (aka Winwick Hall, former hospital)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-2005?
Further Comments: This part of the old hospital site was said to be haunted by a grey lady and the sounds of children running and shouting. Other parts of the hospital, since demolished and replaced with a housing estate, were home to a phantom nun reputed to walk into one room here and take a seat before disappearing. She was said to be only visible from the knees up. Other phantoms included an American GI, white ladies, and former members of staff.

Nurse

Location: Waterford (County Waterford) - Hospital (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre 1987
Further Comments: After the nun/nurse who set up the operating room died, the room continued to be found tidy and in order at the start of the day.

A phantom soldier.

Soldier Inspecting

Location: Wath upon Dearne (Yorkshire) - Wath Wood Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When this building was a general hospital, it was believed that a Roman Soldier would appear at night and inspect every new admission as they slept.

Marcus Beck

Location: WC1 (Greater London) - University College Hospital
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Before being stolen in January 2001, the portrait of Beck was considered cursed. People who fell asleep under the painting quickly became ill, and in some cases died. It was also said that if the shutters were not closed on the painting at night, a patient would unexpectedly die.

Lizzie Church

Location: WC1 (Greater London) - University College Hospital, Gower Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Lizzie accidentally killed her lover with a morphine overdose when he was admitted as a patient. Years later, her ghost would appear prior to morphine injections as a reminder to be careful. Two buildings along Gower Street itself reported the ghost of a man with a heavily bandaged head.

Human Foot

Location: WC2 (Greater London) - Christ's Hospital (no longer standing)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Pre-1902
Further Comments: A human footprint was once visible in the stonework of this hospital. It was said to have been created when a ghostly beadle's wife stamped her foot in response to a disrespectful human.